Blog of a news photographer

About Me

I'm a news photographer, and occasional reporter, based in Inverness, Scotland. Previously I ran the NorthScotNews.com agency before working as a staff photographer at the Inverness Courier and Highland News from 2013-2015. I'm now back freelancing.

Simple Procedure is the new name for the small claims court. Over the past four months I’ve been through the process to recover money owing from a former landlord who failed to return a rental deposit. I won my case, but it was handled so poorly by the court that it might serve as a warning to others, and could help you be prepared for the challenges you may face.

I also learned a thing or two about how the process is stacked against the person making the claim, so I’ll mention those too as they’re not obvious.

This month I should have been embarking on an exciting new adventure, as I was applying to join the Special Constabulary to work as a volunteer part-time police officer. Instead, that’ll have to wait at least six months, and now I’m sitting here telling you this rather ironic story. It’s a long one, but I’ll try to keep it light…

Press photographers are fairly clued-up nowadays on how the law protects our right to do our job. One of those protections is that the police can’t seize our equipment or photos. But what happens when the police really want to seize them? It turns out that they have a nasty trick up their sleeve.

We’ve seen over the past couple of days that a lot of people are angry about Apple removing the headphone socket from the next iPhone. Personally it doesn’t affect me. My iPhone 6 Plus will be my last iPhone, so anything missing from the new one is irrelevant to me. But Apple’s decision to drop the headphone socket is something that should concern — and indeed frighten — everyone.